I will never ever use airbnb again

In munich I had booked 3 night stay, 2 HOURS!! before i was to turn up the host made an excuse of their dad had died and cancelled the reservation - this was obv nothing to do with the fact they had just realised there was an exhibition on in the area (where rates sky rocket x4)

I spoke to the person and they was extremly unconvicing of the real reason of cancelling - luckly I managed to get a hotel for a little more, but the stress!!!!!!! I WILL NEVER EVER use airbnb again

There's something in the water in Munich - I had the same experience, probably because it was just coming into Oktoberfest...

Oktoberfest... the memeries make up for all the bad experiances from airbnb

We had a very similar experience in Paris. Six of us were running in the Paris Marathon, and we'd booked an AirBnB months in advance. Come the week of the marathon, the booking got cancelled by the host without explanation. When we politely enquired as to why our booking had been cancelled and whether there had been some kind of mistake, we got a four word reply: "My husband is DEAD".

If I recall correctly, AirBnB didn't allow the host to rebook the same period once they have cancelled a booking. That was no matter to the host - we later found the same property listed on another platform. AirBnB were unable/unwilling to find us alternative accommodation. And as guests who had been left massively inconvenienced and out-of-pocket, we weren't able to leave a written review or give a low rating to reflect our terrible experience - they simply end up with a brief "auto-review" to say "The host cancelled a booking with X days notice."

Even if you cancel 1 second before checkin the fee is only 50%.

Meanwhile a guest is on the hook for all of it.

Easily found in article 900 ;(

Ranks first on google when you type « airbnb cancellation policy ».

Note that you don’t even need to search for _host_ cancellation policy.

Airbnb is even biased in their SEO investment.

I don't like AirBNB at all, but that doesn't sound "generous" to me.

The host isn't reducing their income. They're paying a fine outright, and it jumps to 50% 2 days before.

Since things out of your control can happen (the toilet breaks, the place floods) a 50% fine seems reasonable without being unnessarily punitive. And 25% seems OK too since more than 48 hours should be enough time to find an alternative?

I would expect to ban a host if they cancelled stays repeatedly or as any kind of pattern, however.

If the place can't be rented because of an emergency, they don't keep any fine. The 25% or 50% fine is for shitty hosts who decide they want to use the place for something else after all